Saigon

It's Wednesday evening already and tonight is the latest I have been able to stay awake ~ it's 10p.  This is about the time in the trip I tend to really settle-in to the time change and am no longer worried about causing myself a spinal cord injury around 830p, as my head is bobbing so badly.  Phew...I'm now in the clear! 

We traveled today from Can Tho back to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City).  It's a little like going from Omaha to New York City in a matter of 4 hours.  We traveled in an SUV with a driver from Can Tho.  In the past, this trip has been fraught with confusion, misdirection, getting lost and today's trip went quite smoothly overall.  A little confusion on the driver's part when we were about 10 blocks from our hotel, as Saigon is broken into Districts.  Our hotel is in District #3 and as we were traveling up the main street that runs outside of our hotel, he was looking at the addresses on the left side of the street ~ which were in District #10 ~ rather than the addresses on the right side of the street ~ which were in District #3.  He called the hotel and asked for directions and then via pointing told us we needed to turn around, but because Amy and I have stayed at this hotel the past 3 trips, we knew that we were going in the correct direction, but he turned around anyway, as we really couldn't communicate with each other.  Then, miraculously, Amy noticed he was saying we were in District #10 and needed to be in #3, as Amy is really good at recognizing the numbers now (me...a little bit, but not quite as well as Amy), so she then pointed for him to look at the left side of the street (remember: we had done a u-turn at this point, so what was on the left is now on the right and so on) and he had an epiphany...we were in District #3.  (confused yet?  Don't worry...that's the moral of this story!)

So, we again did another u-turn to begin traveling back in the correct direction and then the next challenge was to show/communicate to him which alleyway to pull into, as our hotel is slightly off of the main street.  We accomplished this with some skilled pointing and use of a simple command by Amy in Vietnamese to keep going ~ lai, lai ~ and then one of the folks from our hotel were awaiting our arrival in the alleyway. 

We got out of the car and the driver thrust his arms in the air and took a really deep breath.  We all did a little happy dance!!  I think he was quite relived to get us to our destination.  We just hope he found his way out of Saigon and back to Can Tho safely!

So, we are back again at our most-lovely Ma Maison Boutique Hotel, which is an island of serenity in the midst of the chaos of Saigon.  It is owned by Natasha Long, a lovely young woman who is Vietnamese, but has lived in London and throughout Europe, but inherited this great house ~ 4 or 5 stories tall ~ and so decided several years ago to move back to Saigon and start a hotel.  If you are ever in Saigon ~ which I'd recommend as a destination ~ this is the place to stay!  We are now 'regulars' and everyone is so kind to us, treating us so, so well.  It was mid-day when we arrived and quite hot ~ about 95 degrees ~ and so were greeted with a passion fruit and glass of freshly squeezed mango juice!  Delicious!

This is what was left of the passion fruit after I ate it...was so hungry and so didn't get the photo taken soon enough, but trust me...it was delicious!

Natasha then told us she had a baby last year ~ yay!  A little boy called Ben.  We are planning on meeting baby Ben tomorrow ~ he's 3 months old ~ so that will be fun and exciting!  We then got caught-up on each other's lives and Natasha then offered to make us lunch, which she did herself.  So lovely!  She made us an omelet on bahn mi (french bread) with tomato and onions, as well as a delicious plate of fruits for dessert ~ papaya, banana, watermelon and pineapple.  So yummy and fresh!

Ma Maison at night...so lovely!

A closer view

The best telephone ever...a great seafoam green color!

My comfy, comfy bed!

Everything one needs.

Cute little accessories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, around 245p we set-off to walk toward downtown, heading toward the Ben Than Market...a huge market about the size of a football stadium and filled with anything and everything one could ever need, want or try to find.  We walked until about 615p, did a little shopping, as today is really our only free day and the off to a great dinner.  Here's a few pictures from our noisy, congested and hot, hot walk today...

This is for the Texans ~ Scott, Allison, Elise & Tristan!!  I am not sure what makes it Texas chicken?  Thoughts?

Always love the ways words are combined here ~ why not fruit juice?

Electronics super-store...want to buy a flat-screen?

Vietnam Telecom...always insane!

So we stopped in a coffee shop for some iced tea, as we were roasting and this was on the the Community Board.  Amy thought Woman's Day was on March 1st and I was curious if this was the 3rd annual Woman's Day?  Go Ladies!

Saigon is building a subway.  A Japanese company is doing the work, so one native said to me that means it will likely get finished on-time.  I think they are starting small with the subway and then plan to grow their system.  Should be interesting when we return in a couple of years to see what progress ~ if any ~ has been made.

A collaboration. 

Ben Than Market on Le Loi Street

A nightclub and discotheque...love the name!  And no, we didn't go inside. 

This was one of the names on the outside of a cell phone store.  Again, always interesting with the spellings and uses of words.  No selphy to attach here, sorry!

The 10th sign of the apocalypse...Starbucks in Saigon.  Sigh.

A Vietnamese 'sandwich shoppe'

We then jumped into a taxi to take us to dinner.  After showing the taxi driver + 2 other taxi drivers where we wanted to go and after much discussion, pointing and lively exchange of words, we were off.  Well, 30 minutes later + 2 stops to ask for directions + Amy and me looking at street names and finally finding it, we arrived at dinner.  I can now see how on the Amazing Race some racers fall behind due to bad taxi drivers.  Our dinner was amazing and we have been to this restaurant before and definitely will return again.  It has several very steep and precarious stairs one must climb to get to the dining area, along with going through 2 extremely short (in height) doors, which Amy must duck to get through as well, but it was well-worth the effort for our tasty dinner.  Here's some highlights...

Cuc Gach Quan...the restaurant

The last line is the best...'Our specialty a menu based on vegetables'

Our dinner.

Morning glory (veggie) with garlic and clay pot shrimp (spicy)

Tofu with lemongrass and Vietnamese spring rolls with prawns (sans pork) with peanut sauce

Tofu up-close...Amy's favorite.  Me...not so much.

My thirst-quenching, adult beverage with a hollow vegetable straw.

Back at our lovely hotel and off to the Pediatric Hospital #1 tomorrow.  We will be seeing patients all day with the therapists and it will be great to see our friends again. 

I have some video of traffic and of a scooter ride Amy took in Can Tho, so I'll post those videos tomorrow night.  Sleep well!

xoxo
Stacy